Sunday, June 19, 2016

BOYSTOWN: One Stabbed, Huge Fights In Pride Mayhem

UPDATE 12:28PM -- The stabbing victim is identified by police in other media as a male. CWB Chicago editors have been in touch with the victim, who identifies as female. Our original report from this morning follows.
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One woman was stabbed and several people were injured as large crowds overtook Boystown’s Halsted strip following the first night of Chicago’s Pride Fest early Sunday.

Trouble began brewing around midnight and seemed to emanate from the 7-Eleven parking lot at 3407 N. Halsted, where police estimated a crowd had grown to over 400 people by 3AM.

A police supervisor ordered all available 19th district officers to the intersection of Halsted and Roscoe to handle the incidents.

Screen grab: DJ Tek

Halsted Street was closed to vehicles for about an hour after pedestrians took over the traffic lanes around 3 o’clock.

Officers who were blocking traffic at Halsted and Belmont reported that a woman was stabbed in the back just steps from their location at 3:18AM. Witnesses also reported that she had been pepper sprayed.

She is reported in good condition at Illinois Masonic Medical Center, police said.

“It’s a zoo up here” he wrote. “These gay kids are crazy. Pulling out knives…It’s 3:45 and this is happening now. I gotta go. People trying to jump on my bike. Trying to avoid the New York from coming out.”

Screen grab: DJ Tek

Officers continued to report large fights on the street at Belmont and Halsted, Belmont and Clark, and Halsted and Aldine until almost sunrise.

A witness reported seeing a man get robbed outside of Wrigley Field around 4 o’clock this morning, but police, tied up with the Halsted mess, were unable to launch an immediate response. All parties were gone by the time officers became available.

Screen grab: DJ Tek

“Hundreds Of Officers?”

There were no signs of the “hundreds of officers” that Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said would be handling North Side events, including pride activities. The 19th district has only been staffed by its normal allotment of officers this weekend, according to multiple cops who spoke with us off the record.

One police executive from the Area North office was in Boystown during Pride Fest’s operating hours.

According to a city source, the 19th police district was in "radio assignments pending status—meaning that no officers were available to immediately handle incoming calls for police service—for 18 of the 36 hours between noon Friday and 12:01AM today.

103 comments:

It's really sad that you had to move away....but I can't blame you. I wonder how much longer I will stay if things don't start changing for the better.

Seems Boystown has been handed over to the criminals. They come here in droves, cause tons of trouble (eating up all of our police resources) and they don't patronize the bars. People who want to patronize the bars will stay away to avoid riots like this.

The Lakefront around the Clocktower has been handed over to the thugs at night. And they are still there in the morning. Some of my friends who USED TO walk their dogs over there in the morning don't go there anymore because the thugs are still there after a night of drinking & fighting. Way too dangerous to venture over there anymore.

It really pisses me off that these freeloading trouble makers are given carte blanche to the city, while hard working tax payers are forced to stay in at night or move away.

Who will pay all the taxes & fees once all the decent people move away? We all know these trouble makers don't have a pot to piss in.

Same. Moved out of the area, sold my home in E. Lakeview and I know at least 4 others who have, too. No sense in standing on the decks of a sinking ship. It makes me terribly sad but E. lakeview is not the happy place it was in the years past. Hire as many cops as you want but it doesn't stop this BS. You've got Center on Halsted attracting thugs from all over the city which started this mess and now it's just a new playground for trash. If you say anything about it / against it, you're a racist bigot (even if you're a minority yourself). So yes, hire thousands of new cops, go for it (and I agree it would at least help to have their visual presence there) but they can't / won't do anything because they're not going to get pegged a racist and be fired for stepping in. Have a chat with an officer some time and ask how they feel about getting involved in this crap and risking losing their retirement or income for their family because of even touching one of these jerks fighting in these videos. We've allowed this mess with our leadership choices and what organizations we have allowed into our neighborhoods.

It started in the mid 1990's when Chicago refused to aggressively patrol North Avenue Beach and North Michigan Avenue at the start of the summer seasons. The police are now declawed thanks to the Ferguson/Baltimore effect. The worst in the city carry on with impunity. Unless there is a political turnaround, Chicago will be the next Detroit. Thanks Daley/Rham.

400 in 7/11 and fights all over Lake View. Police and fire department should of ice watered down the idiot crowds and announce then go home. What is wrong with the leaders of this town to know this is coming and then just ignore and send a skeleton crew of police to deal with this. Mayor, police chief, alderman why are you collecting tax pay checks and then not leading / protecting the city

There was also Fiestas Boriquenas in Humboldt Park on the same weekend. And down there, you couldn't go a 1/4 block without seeing multiple cops. Hell, I saw them stop a guy last night from WAVING A FLAG. It was a big flag, but still...

I was driving on Halsted around 11 PM and there were drunk people all over the street, people were crossing the street and it was so packed that there were times i had to stop at an intersection for almost 10 mins. As i was driving on Halsted, I didn't see those "hundred officers" Superintend Johnson promised Laview, drunk people all over, a woman tried jumping in my car luckily I had my doors locked. I feel sorry for those who leave in the area, wait until the pride parade.

As a gay man, stories like this leave me nothing to be proud of in terms of how we celebrate the day. It's an embarrassment and moving out of not only boys town but the city of Chicago was the best decision i've made in a long time.

I can understand your position, but lets be real here. Things have been going down hill for several years. Each year it seems worse. The people causing most of the problems are gay or from the area. They just want an excuse to be stupid, drunk, and trash things....so here they are.

You're referring to summer mobile. It will consist of 90 POs; 30 on days (1000-1800), 60 on nights (1800-0230). It starts this Tuesday. I'm on it and believe it will mainly be beach patrol. Either way, it's a small size force. The problem is not so much the size it's our aggression level. We cannot match or exceed the aggression and violence of the offenders in this city and they know it.

I volunteered to work SMP just to be by the beach and get out of the ghetto I've always worked in. I am not going back to being an aggressive PO, none of us are. You'd be a fool to think you could nowadays. Sorry, this is going to be a wild summer.

I too got the hell out of that hole of a city. It has been handed over to the "takers", leaving the "contributors" wondering what their hard earned money is being them. More crime? Less police? Yeah, that's a winning combination!

I miss my brother's and sister's in Blue. Your job is getting harder all the time. While I will miss the clowns, I certainly don't miss the circus.

I saw tons of loud mouth trans persons dressed in drag trying to cause trouble and harass passersby. The walk from Steamworks back to my hotel was truly frightening. I have been coming to Chicago for 20 years. This is my last trip. Very sad.

Until 2010, I would think nothing of walking from Steamworks (or taking an 8 or 22 bus back to the Days Inn) at midnight. I have not been to Chicago since 2013, and If I were to go back, I would stay within the confines of the Loop, and take Metra to the suburbs. No "L" to Evanston or Skokie either because that means an un-policed Red line through Belmont and Uptown. Even the 147 bus to Osterman Beach could be risky.

Since there is no official removal process of the Mayor, and the City Council are all corrupt, pandering narcissists, there is no hope.

There is indeed a removal process in place, it consists of the citizens being smart enough to vote these clowns out of office. The voters have consistently overwhelmingly voted these people into office, so now they get to enjoy the results.

It's also disturbing that this all took place right by the make shift memorial for the lives lost in Orlando. The parade needs to be moved!! This daytime event and the neighborhood do not have the police power to control the crowds!! I fear for this up coming weekend.

Because, you know, judging a city or an area off of a few blocks is a completely intelligent thing. Obviously there's issues, but you sound like a moron saying "I'm not coming back to the city because of that." Guess what? There's tons more to the city than just this area where this stuff doesn't happen all the time (if ever).

Walking home from a friends house, I decided to check out Halsted Street on my way home around 2 am. The scene on Halsted was a complete sh!t show. People everywhere, huge groups of people walking through traffic, groups of people running in all directions, traffic not moving. And this was just after PrideFest. I absolutely dread what's coming next weekend. If this is Pride, we're beyond screwed when the zombie apocalypse arrives.

Next week. I know someone will probably will get killed. I avoid that neighborhood. The news should report how people who don't live in our neighborhood come and destroy and disrupt a great neighborhood.

If that happens, the blood will be on Rahm, Tunneys, Pfieffer, Smith, Capplemans, and anyone else who KNEW this "pride" parade and its problems were deteriorating each year, yet still allowed the parade to roll through this neighborhood. Move the fucking thing downtown or better yet just get rid of it.

This is exactly why I don't do pride anymore. It went from a pretty safe and fun weekend to a disaster. It's sad such a positive event is now so negative because people don't know how to act. It's a shame you can't teach classy.

You know you're getting old when you do the "back when *I* was young..." thing with Boystown. It used to be wonderful even as a straight guy because it was a fun place to just have a good time. I enjoy the good ol' days when I could play pool at Spin with my friends and play for drinks against patrons. The worst thing I could think of at the time was being hit on by a guy whose heart I would have to break or getting sick from Ann Sather's. Now I'm worried about being injured, robbed or worse. It's just sad.

But as my tradition for the parade, I plan on following CWB's liveblog while I stay inside and drink in the air conditioning.

I drive Uber/Lyft... and the biggest problem I see over there is underage drinking on the STREETS. People not old to get in the bars, but they are walking up and down the streets brown paper bagging it or with solo cups. Why are the police not stopping this? After 10pm, if you are under 21, you have no business being on the Boystown or Wrigleyville strips. If the police would just focus on the underage drinking problem that goes on out here, I think a lot of mayhem could be avoided. The bars should all come together to issue reflective wristbands of some kind so police can identify patrons and loiterers quickly and efficiently.

Rahm's CPD reacts to south and west side shootings, that's it to stay out of the national media - nothing else matters. If you don't like it, move to a collar county - FU. That's the attitude. The shooting along Belmont the other day made it to the Sun-Tines, that's it.

^^This guy's right, the cops have basically been cornered into not doing anything. With body camera's, witness' cell phones, bystanders instigating violence, and no legal support from the city, cops are backing away from minor incidents to minimize the risk of losing their jobs or making the city look worse. Every little thing they do is scrutinized, including by the ACLU among others. Imagine having to do your job under that pressure. Now imagine having to do it and knowing that no matter what you do, the media will almost certainly paint you as the bad guy. Our city officials are practicing appeasement. Here's the result.

Thank you so much! You get it. I wish you could come out on patrol with me on the west side, come to court and see how we are treated on the street. it's gotten worse and worse since I've been on the job. Thank you for understanding

Police are infective because they let the crowds gather. Start locking people up for open containers on public ways and start writing jaywalking tickets and you'll prevent 90% of the violent crimes before they start. Other cities do this and it's very effective.

The police are ineffective becuase they can't even physically touch anyone these days. Read the news and you'll see saving your partner from being chocked by a drug dealing, convicted gang banging felon gets you suspended while the police chief calls the felon who, on video, was chocking a cop gets an apology.

That is yet another example of the wrong message being sent to the criminals among us.

The CPD didn't seem to mind touching me a few years ago when I forgot my walled and my taxi driver screamed bloody murder. I had some cop's hand squeezing my throat. I own a single family home and work for McKinsey - not exactly a bad guy.

People have lost their minds! The violence has spread like a disease. No longer confined to the far west side or far south side. Now it's on Michigan ave.,Lakeview, etc. The cops have had it and gone berserk. But if you have money, Chicago is the best city in the world.

It's not so great if you have money either.I believe the woman on Hawthorne whose Lexus was stolen out of her garage a few months ago has put her house on the market - and that's got to be a $5 million house.

There is only one way to get Rahm to do something and that is to embarrass him publicly and to hit him in in the tourism pocket. Send the videos (above) to news outlets in neighbor states. They can advise their viewers about how dangerous Chicago has become and to postpone trips to Chicago until things improve. That will reduce tourist dollars to Chicago and then Rahm will have to do something.

What's weird is that people causing disruption are moving to the once safe parts of the city and acting up.

The south side is still the south side, nothing's really changed other than the usual gang activity and gang associated violence (South Lawndale, Bridgeport, etc. Englewood is a whole different story though). But when you talk about strong robbery and aggravated assault, this has interestingly shifted or spread towards the 'once considered' safe neighborhoods on the North Side.

Maybe it's more chance of a bigger payout in regards to strong robbery, violence is a mystery to me though. I guess it's just people that act up causing more violence when in North Side neighborhoods.

It's strange when I feel safer in South Lawndale than I do in North side neighborhoods now-a-days.

Actually, there's far less crime in most of the areas you mentioned than previously. The only reason you think there's more is because there's much more media (thanks to the internet, mobile devices, etc) available to us 24/7 and at a more micro level. Go run the actual statistics - the 90s were a scary time. Thinking that things are as bad as the 90s or early 2000s shows how susceptible everyone is to this shit. Obviously there's issues, again, but as long as we're on this - it's not as bad in any of these areas as even 10 years ago. There's plenty of statistics to back that up from the City of Chicago to the FBI. Go use your brain and do some research before succumbing to fear.

That's because the city has saturated the ghetto with cops while depleting the "nice" parts of theirs over the last 5 years or so. Sure, here and there they'll shift a few cops back north or to the Lakefront...but that's shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic. And they aren't permanent shifts.

Couple that with the criminal's perception of many north siders being squeamish, unarmed, and non-street-savvy - along with most cops not willing to put themselves on the line with so many (political, media, and otherwise) willing to throw them under the bus, no matter how unjustified....the only ones who stand to benefit are the thugs. They know this and are taking full advantage of it.

Get your concealed carry, study the laws pertaining to Firearm Concealed Carry Act, TRAIN, and be willing to defend yourself.

We've been in Chicago over 50 years. The pendulum has made a full swing and is again heading in the wrong direction. After a year of thought, preparation and now selling our home the moving truck shows up a week from Tuesday. Good bye Chicago and good riddence.

The police are outnumbered and under supported and that is by design from the mayors office. Do not count on the police to save you if you are dumb enough to get involved in the Hot Mess called pride week on Halsted. Game Over

When are we going to loiter and picket in front of Ann Sathers on a Saturday and Sunday morning to show Tommy we have had enough of this nonsense? If those thugs can loiter at 3:45 am without being in violation of anything then neighborhood residents can do the same at 10:30 am in front of Ann Sathers, and without fear of being told to move on. Time to rally and picket where it hurts Tommy most. Oh, and let's bring our kids to the loitering with us and have them draw lovely body outlines with chalk on the sidewalks to add more color to the neighborhood?

This whole thing is completely out of control. There is no way to bring civility back into the area once it has become overrun, for the pickings are just too great. Tunney is garbage and completely useless. Eddie Johnson is nothing but another Rahm puppet who will say one thing for a media sound bite and end up doing nothing. You can almost see Rahm standing in back of Johnson mouthing the words Johnson will say. The videos above prove our neighborhood is loosing itself to these thugs. It looks like Rahm and Company have other ideas and aspirations which do not include us. So, all your prayers (which are as effective, logically, as praying to a brick wall) and all your marches of protest are useless. It's so sad, but reality must be faced.

I'm willing to bet the majority of people present at that time have ill intent. They only want to cause or instigate problems. Definitely not a representation of the LGBT community. As another commenter said, Orlando demonstrated pride. New York shows pride. This festering cesspool of a city makes an mockery of itself time and time again.

Are any of those people really gay? "Ladies" you really need to buy a mirror before you go out in public. This is pride week. Pride for what? To act like animals. I have been for relocating the parade downtown for years. Not any more. Now is the time not to relocate it but to end it. It no longer can be called Pride Week, it has become Shame Week. What happened on Halsted is an embarrassment when compared with the genuine pride being shown in Orlando to the memory of those 49 young souls killed by hate. People's reaction down there shows what gay pride really is. Here, it is just a drunken circus.

The bars have a responsibility of not denying the violent crime and blatantly lying to their (former) clientele. They don't care about nothing but your money and occasionally trying to get into your pants.

Let's be honest and not pc. Ever since they opened that gay social service/community center on N. Halsted, the crime rate went up dramatically. That center attracts all the south side scum looking for handouts. They hang out in front on the center making it look like a gang hangout. Most are not even gay. This is why all the robberies and assaults have skyrocketed in the area.

This has been going on for years, lived at Roscoe and Elaine Pl. for almost 10 years, then Buckingham Pl. The thugs got word 20 years ago that Boystown was the place to go and make money,knowing that guys were leaving the bars and walking home, easy pray! I have left Chicago, because I lived thru this back in the 60's in South Shore...now the Northside is up for grabs, I don't want to live in fear of just walking down the street anymore, Pride parade use to be great, but it's ruined now, so sad!

One way is to make it harder for the thugs to get up north from the ghetto would be for the CTA to start charging fares based on distance and make the train system like in DC where you can't simply walk to the other side of the platform and get on a train going the other way.

So you're going to screw the law abiding people who live in the distant areas of the city?Gee, that would sure benefit the wealthy people who live close to downtown. And what about hard working, limited income workers who depend on our trains to get to work and back home again?Trump-like solutions don't cut it in the real world.

Sorry to hear Pride being taken from a uplifting event to a free for all drunken mess. I use to love to go to Chicago Pride back in the 80's & 90's. Just celebrated Pride here in Columbus, OH. We had over 500,000 people for Pride. There was great police protection. No reported major violence connected with Pride. Come to Columbus, Oh for Pride next year!

A clueless poster says the police are ineffective for not enforcing jaywalking, etc.First of all, there are not enough police. Does the poster have an opinion on the ill-fated district merger in 2012?Stopping people for jaywalking when they cant respond to the mas sd ive brawls, street robberies, burglaries, etc is clueless. Read CWB m9re often